Choosing your personal fitness trainer can not only be a difficult decision, but an expensive one as well. Finding a fitness trainer who can provide a professional level of knowledge, as well as demonstrate safe exercise programming is essential. Unfortunately, it's possible to find a fitness trainer who may leave you broke, injured or, even worse, both.

Whenever counseling people on how to best select an appropriate fitness trainer for their needs, I recommend they follow this five step process:

Step 1: Do your research. Are they educated? How much experience do they have? Are they certified? I prefer that all fitness trainers hold a certification through the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA) or the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), because these two certification bases are considered to be the gold standard in training athletes and improving health, respectively.

Step 2: What kind of populations have they worked with in the past? (i.e. age, gender, exercise experience). Make sure that your fitness trainer is sensitive to the needs of your gender, goals, health status, etc.

Step 3: Interact with them. Do you get along? This is very important in determining the belief system you will have with exercise. Remember, you want to position exercise to be as fun as possible, so that you will always look forward to your new, healthy lifestyle.

Step 4: Do they have a plan? Are they ready to sign you up indefinitely, or have they suggested an exact plan that will make you successful with your goals? This is an extremely important factor. Please be sure to verify that this fitness trainer has a plan to make you independent with exercise. Otherwise, your healthy lifestyle may be linked to your fitness trainer's career. That's simply not fair.

Step 5: Can they provide you with testimonials or references? Do you know someone, directly, who has worked with them? I understand that everyone needs to begin somewhere, but this is your health. Fitness trainers have the opportunity to work for large gyms and corporations while developing their skills, under mentorship and guidance. When hiring a private fitness trainer, be sure that they have demonstrated success in the past.

By following this five step process, you will surely improve your chances of hiring an excellent fitness trainer. There is nothing wrong with asking these questions to the person you are interviewing for the position of 'body mechanic.' Successful fitness trainers would be happy to answer all of these questions just to show you how committed they are to your goal achievement.